Doctrine and Duty Interwoven
Analogy★★★★The Apostles were not content to preach only what are called doctrinal discourses. In the texture both of their sermons and epistles they wove up doctrine and duty together. These were intermingled as the woof and warp of that loom where the flying shuttle weaves the sail with which men catch the breezes of heaven, and impel the bark onward to her desired haven. We see these inspired preachers coming down to the common business and practical duties of life--down from the throne of God - down from the heights of the cross - down from regions of such high speculation, that Peter owns himself to have lost sight of Paul, just as in summer day, when watching the lark as she rose from the dewy grass, we have seen her mount up on untiring wing, till she became a mere dark speck upon the blue sky, and then, although her song still came ringing down, vanished from our field of vision.
From heights so lofty the men who were moved by the Holy Ghost descended to expatiate on the most common topics that belong to practical piety. They instructed masters how to rule, and servants how to work : they taught husbands how to love, and children how to obey: they laid down rules for a bishop’s table. They no more deemed it beneath their dignity to tell young women how to attire their heads and dress their hair, than to warn young men to “flee youthful lusts.”
They lifted up their warning against the sins of ordinary life: they erected beacons on every quicksand and sunken rock: they buoyed out the narrow channel of salvation. Describing with downright plainness these fruits of the flesh which exclude from the kingdom, they never sacrificed divine truth, human virtue, precious souls, upon the altar of a spurious delicacy. They went in among corruption, like the sunbeam which reveals it, but suffers no taint through the contact.
Descending from the loftiest to the lowliest subjects, theirs was the course of the eagle which, now on cloud-cleaving wing, mounts upward, soaring out of sight, and now sweeps down to brush the heather, or settle in her rocky nest.
Also attributed to: Unknown
The point
The illustration uses weaving and eagle flight metaphors to show how the apostles seamlessly integrated doctrinal truth with practical duty in their preaching and teaching.